Elevated-street-railway car and truck



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

' H. PAIGE.

ELEVATED STREET RAILWAY CAR AND TRUCK.

No. 466,364. I Patented Jan. 5, 1892.

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H. PAIGE. ELEVATED STREET RAILWAY CAR AND TRUGJL- No. 466,364. PatentedJan. 5, 189 2.

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H. PAIGE.

, ELEVATED STREET RAILWAY CAR AND TRUCK.

(No Model.) v 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

H. PAIGE. ELBVATEDSTRBEI RAILWAY GAR AND TRUCK. 166466 64. 1 PatentedJanis, 1692.

v a A? .Wii'nasflem wmww MW/W U ITED-f STATE PATENT -QFFIQE'P HOWEPAIGE, ,O F MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA,

ELEVATED-'STRE'ET-RAlLWAY CAR AND TRU C K.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Iatent No. 466,364, dated January5, 1892.

Application filed September 2, 1 890; Serial No. 363,776. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWE PAIGE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residingat the city of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ElevatedStreet- Railways; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

. My invention has for its object to provide I an elevatedstreet-railway which shall be simple in construction, economical incost, and which shall reduce the street obstruction to a minimum. Tothis end I employ a single row of supporting-columns having cross-armsat their tops. On the outer ends of the crossarms I place girders andconnect the same by truss-braces. On the girders I place the trackrails,each rail constituting an independent track for the support of adependent car. On the opposite sides of the columns, proximately in linewith the lower part of the car-body,"'I secure guide-rails forengagement with'antifriction rollers on the car-body to limitthe inwardoscillation of the dependent car. The dependent car is secured to asuitable truck at its top,with its wheels running on said rail. Eachcar-body is provided with a single line of outwardly-faced seats at itsback. The

construction is such that the load 'on' the car will fall in or inside avertical line through the center of the rail, and the weight on thetruck is so placed that it will counterpoise the load on the car, so asto prevent or reduce to a minimum the flange-friction of the wheel onthe rail. Each car and each truck is composed of independent sectionswith pivotal connections, in order to adapt the same to short curves.The walls of the car-body are rendered continuous and made to adaptthemselves to curves in the opposite directions by flexible walls. Thewalls connecting the sections on the one side are pivotally connected,while those on the other side are extensible and made of some flexiblematerial. The connections are also such between the sections that thesections can separate to any limited extent at the bottoms; or, in otherwords, the car is also rendered flexible in the vertical direction toadapt the same to change elevation.

in grades. This flexible car, composed of independent sections, is theprinciple feature of my invention. So far as this feature isconcerned,'any suitable propelling mechanism may be used; but I preferand have shown the electric propulsion. For the application of the sameI'rnount an electric motor or motors on the axles of one or more of thesectional trucks and apply the motion of the armature directly to theaxle, with the necessary reduction in speed, by'a single largegear-wheel on the outer end of the axle in engagement with a pinion onthe outer end of the armature-shaft. For the outgoing current I employ asingle conductor mounted upon and insulated from the cross-bracesconnecting the girders, so that the top of the conductor comes betweenandj ust below the level of the rails. The rails are used as thereturn-conductors. Traveling contacts of any suitable kind take thecurrent from the outgoing conductor to the motors. I have shown for thepurpose a yielding or pivoted spring-contact mounted on the lower partof the truck, having a rolling contact against the vertical face of theconductor. Oars going in one direction take the current olf of one-sideof the conductor and those in the other direction from the other side.It will thus be seen that adouble-track elevated road is provided withcars going in opposite directions, which occupies a comparatively smallpart of the street. In view of the depending car or the absence of thefor vehicles in the street, and in view of the comparatively lightweight of the trucks and single-seat cars, the supporting structure maybe made of skeleton form and comparatively light, thus interposing verymuch less obstruction to the supply of light to the sidewalks andbuildings along the line of travel.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like letters refer to like partsthroughout, Figure 1 is a side elevation of an elevated road and carconstructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-sectionof the same, some of the parts being shown in end Fig. 3 isa detail inrear elevation showing the inner connection between adjacent sections ofthe car-body. Fig.4 is a detail in plan of one of the hinges shown inFig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan or top view of a part of the track and a partof one of the cartrucks. Fig. 6 is a plan or top view showing a curvedsection of the tracks and ears in position therein, some parts beingremoved.

A are the supporting-columns. B are the cross-arms or cap-plates on thesame.

0 are the girders.

E are the diagonal truss-braces, and E the top or cross brace connectingthe girders.

F are the track-rails.

G G are the guide-rails.

G is the roller on the car-body engaging with the said guide-rails.

II is the car-body.

K is the car-truck, and L the electric motors.

M is the conductor for the outgoing current, and N is the pivotedspring-contact on the car-truck.

P is a safety or guard wheel attached to the under side of the car-truckfor engagement with the rails, in case of possible displacement of thecar-wheels, to prevent the car from falling. from the tracks.

The current may be taken from the pivoted contact to the motor by anysuitable conductor.

a are the pivotal connections uniting the truck-sections.

b b b" are the pivotal connections uniting the inner walls of thecar-bod y. Of these one part of the hinge, as b, is mounted in straps c.attached to a fixed part of the car-body, so that the hinge may be freeto slide back and forth to a limited extent.

d is a flexible strap or curtain spanning the pivotal connection orjoint on the inside, so as to make the wall continuous.

(1' are the extensible walls uniting the sections on the'outside, and dis a flexible strap or curtain similar to (l, which may be used, ifdesired, inside of the extensible walls d.

e is the armature-shaft, and e is the pinion on the outer end of thesame.

f is the large gear-wheel 011 the outer end of the car-axle inengagement with the pinion 8'.

It will be understood that the floors and the ceilings connecting thesections of the car should be made of telescoping parts, (not shown,) soas to preserve a continuous interior to the entire car.

The operation is evident from the description already given. Byreference to Fig. 6 it will be seen that when the car is traveling onthe inside of the curve the extensible outer walls between the sectionsare compressed together, the sections turning apart on the pivotalconnections uniting the inner walls, and when the car is traveling onthe outside the flexible walls are extended; also, from Fig. 3 it may beseen that the sections may separate or close together slightly at thebottom when required on grades. It should also be noted that the trucksare extended inward to a considerable distance beyond the wheels,

and the electric motors are located on the part of the axles journaledin this extended part of the trucks. The weight of the motors thus formspart of the counterpoise to the car.

On the peculiar arrangement of the electric conductors and the contactsfor taking the current therefrom to the motors on the cars I make hereinno claim, but reserve to myself the right to apply for a patent thereonin a subsequent application.

What I claim, and desire to secure on this Patent, is as follows:

1. The combination, with an elevated track, of a dependent car composedof independent sections, having pivotally-connected walls on one sideand extensible walls on the other.

2. The combination, with an elevated track, of a car composed ofindependent sections, having pivoted walls on one side and extensiblewalls on the other, and a flexible strip spanning the joint in-thepivoted walls.

3. The combination,with the elevated track, of a dependent car flexiblein both the horizontal and vertical planes, composed of independentsections united by a sliding joint.

4. The combination,with the elevated track, of the flexible car composedof independent pivotally-connected sections, and a flexible truck forsupporting said car, composed of corresponding independent pivotallyconnected truck-sections.

5. The combination, with the elevated rails, each constituting aseparate track overhanging common central supports, of a dependent truckand car-bod y composed of independent sections pivotally connectedtogether, supported from said rail and provided with a guide-wheel onits depending part, and a guide-rail on the faces of said supportsengageable by said guide-wheel to limit the inward oscillation of thecar.

6. The combination, with the single-rail elevated track and itssupporting-columns provided with guide-rails to limit the oscillation ofthe car, of a truck mounted on said track and a car-body dependingtherefrom,the said truck being weighted on the side of the wheelsopposite to the car-body to counterpoise the same and the location forthe load on the carbody being such as to bring the line of strain HOWEPAIGE.

Vitnesses:

J AS. F. WILLIAMSON, FRANK D. MERCHANT.

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